Kerala minister goofs up in Covid remark, later admits mistake

PANAJI: The Goa government on Tuesday responded strongly to a statement by Kerala health minister K K Shailaja to an international media platform that a Covid-positive patient from Goa died in her state. The government said that the statement that the patient was shifted from the “Union territory of Goa” because lack of sufficient hospitals could damage the state’s reputation.
“I am appalled by the factually-incorrect statement by Shailaja regarding the death of a Covid patient from Goa in Kerala, during her BBC interview,” said chief minister Pramod Sawant. “The said patient, to our knowledge and as confirmed by the Kerala IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme) team is not from Goa, and has not travelled from here for lack of health facilities.” Sawant also said he wished to inform Shailaja that “Goa is a full-fledged state and not a Union territory”.
During the interview to BBC, Shailaja, speaking about Covid-19 deaths in Kerala, said, “In our state calculation it is three. One is from Goa, the Union territory. He came for treatment to Kerala because there are no sufficient hospitals in Goa, and he died in our hospital. In Kerala, we have only three deaths, and the Centre has added one Goa death to our account. There is no problem. He came for treatment. He got the infection in the Union territory and came for treatment to Kerala.”
Health minister Vishwajit Rane said that the government was informed that the patient was transferred to Kerala from Puducherry, which is a Union territory. “In such times, when the world stands united and each state is fighting with all its force, it is my humble request to KK Shailaja to refrain from making incorrect statements that can damage the reputation of our state.”
The government also questioned Shailaja’s statement on the grounds that Goa was a ‘Green Zone’ for almost two weeks, and there was no inter-state movement. Sawant said that Goa has a dedicated Covid-19 hospital to deal with the disease. He said that seven patients have fully recovered after receiving treatment from the said hospital, and that Goa continues to treat Covid-19 patients from Goa as well as from other states.
Rane, too, backed his CM. “With a dedicated Covid-19 hospital in place, we have an exceptional team of doctors who have a comprehensive Covid-19 treatment plan with state-of-the-art infrastructure to treat patients,” he said.
Late on Tuesday evening, Shailaja said that she meant Puducherry and not Goa. “While speaking, I intended to say that there were three deaths in Kerala and the fourth one was that of a person from Mahe who came to Kerala due to lack of health facility there. But, mistakenly I said Goa instead of Mahe, part of Puducherry, Union territory,” she tweeted.
“I appreciate the work done in Goa regarding containment of the Covid-19 epidemic. I wish you all the very best.”